


The Force

by bikefiend



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 13:36:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10164146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bikefiend/pseuds/bikefiend
Summary: She had always known that she was different, and she had often wished she wasn't. The power of her emotions, the strong premonitions, the overwhelming drive to pursue certain goals. Goals that sometimes made no sense to her. But finally, as the quest for Earth comes to an end, she's beginning to understand





	

It’s just the sort of thing she would do. Create a diversion, goof around, avoid having to talk about plans for the future. But as he scans the billowing grass around him, hearing nothing but the wind and the birdsong, the sense of dread that has been gnawing in his gut for so long grows. It swells through his chest, slumps his shoulders, and leaves in its wake a paralysing stillness. She’d said that she was done here, that she wasn’t coming back, but he still hadn’t dared ask her to explain. He didn’t want to hear the finality of the words, to face the reality of it just yet. And now she’s gone. An electrifying presence in his life from the first moment he saw her, she has always been at the corner of his consciousness even when they were on different ships, on different colonies. Their connection was immediate, terrifying and comforting in equal measure, and could be picked up in just one glance across a room. Neither of them had known how to handle it, and although they were drawn together like magnets over and over again, every attempt at intimacy had somehow failed or blown up spectacularly. He had often felt closer to her across miles of space through a crackling radio link than when holding her in his arms. Through all their failed attempts and terrible timing there had always been the chance to somehow do better the next time, to figure out how to finally develop that deep connection into everything it promised. But now she’s gone. He has thought he has lost her so many times already, and deep down he has known the day would come when she would be gone for good. He has steeled himself against that knowledge, choosing to ignore it, drawing on his military training and his considerable ability for self-control to focus on the task at hand. There has always been something requiring his attention, someone depending on him to take action. But now it’s just him. The promise of a whole new world lies in front of him, but he feels empty, the grand plans of a moment ago crumpled and worthless. The regret constricts his chest, and he draws a deep breath, unconsciously trying to stabilise his breathing to control his body. His mind will follow. The task. The task at hand.

“Goodbye Kara Thrace. You will not be forgotten”

He turns his face into the wind, and closes his eyes.

“Gods Lee, talk about maudlin!” 

It’s as if he’s been hit by a lightning bolt. He looks up, and there she is. Floating in the air ten feet above his head, a tentative smile on her face. He blinks, but cannot make a sound.

“I’m right here dummy. I wouldn’t go anywhere without saying goodbye.”

She rolls over in the air, spreading her arms out as if she were floating in water. She turns again, looking down on him. The look on her face is urgent, not amused anymore. 

“I didn’t know how to tell you, ok? You want to see the ocean? Well, I’ve got some pretty big news too.”

His mind is blank. She’s still here. Is she here? He can see the dirt on her boots, the wind blowing her hair over her face, the lazy movement of her arms keeping her stable. Perhaps he really is going mad. Perhaps it’s all in his mind.

“Am I crazy?”

“No Lee, frak, no, there’s nothing wrong with you. No more than there ever was at least.”

She smiles.

“I’m still me, and I’m still definitely here, but I have this new ability now. I don’t really understand it, but I understand it a hell of a lot more than I used to. I’ve been trying for days to think of a way to tell you, but then I thought I’d just – show you.”

She approaches with a fluid barrel roll through the air, goofily shooting at him with finger-guns. It really looks too silly for him to be imagining it. Or too perfect.

“There is this force, in the Universe, and it’s what holds everything together. And I have always understood that in a way, but it’s been acting through me, I haven’t been able to control it. I’m just beginning to figure it out. If I just focus, I can bend things.”

She waves her hand casually towards the ground, and the grass that was blowing in the south-westerly wind suddenly billows out from his feet, like rings on the water.

“Things, space, time, minds even – I don’t know all of it, but I’m going to figure it out.”

He looks at her face, her eyes are big and dark and looking straight at him. Her eyes are all he can see, there are dark fields at the edge of his vision, enclosing, but just as he’s about to pass out he feels his feet leave the ground. He’s floating in the air, her face suddenly close to his.

“You’d better lie down huh? Take it easy Apollo.”

He can feel the wind all around him, and her warm hand on the back of his neck, supporting him and then gently massaging the base of his skull. He closes his eyes, his world shrinking to the sensation of her hand, the air, and the warmth of the sun on his face. Her hand is real. The sun is real. But he is flying. Floating in thin air. He opens his eyes and looks at her.

“Uhuh, that didn’t last long. You have questions, don’t you? Always with the questions.”

She gives an exasperated sigh, but her face is relaxed and open.

“Do you remember what you said? That you didn’t care what I was? That you’re Lee, and I’m Kara, and that the rest doesn’t matter?”

He nods. Of course he does.

“Well, it seems I’m gonna have to hold you to that. I don’t know what I am, ok? But I know that those impulses, those feelings, that have made me do insane things that no one could understand, least of all me – they came from a sense of what needed to be done to make this force flow in a certain way. And I’m done with that now. I’m going to be in charge. I’m gonna learn everything there is to learn about this, and I’m going to be in charge of my own destiny. I won’t be an instrument anymore.”

The fear, the fear that has been lurking, the fear that exploded and left him drained when he thought she was gone, is back in the pit of his stomach. But he is too exhausted to control it now, too confused for his breathing exercises. He just looks at her, and opens his mouth before he can even think about what he’s going to say.

“Am I… - is this it? Are you saying goodbye to me?”

His voice is croaky, but he’s said it. No more hiding. He waits. She swallows, and looks down. Then she looks up again and holds his gaze.

“The first time I saw you. That night. When I opened the door, it was like a combat landing. It just knocked me sideways, you know. And I didn’t even know you then. But that’s what it’s been like, ever since. I can’t even look at you without feeling it. It’s stayed with me, all the way, through all the crazy shit I’ve done. And the crazy shit you’ve done. And you know that.”

He nods almost imperceptibly, completely focussed on her face. Her hand is still on his neck, and slides up into his hair, her fingers rubbing light small circles on his scalp.

“So if you can put up with me, there’s no way I’m letting you go again.”

She leans in, slowly, and kisses him lightly on the lips. Then she draws away, scanning his face.

“But I can’t stay here, ok? I have to learn more about how to control this force. Before, if I got angry, I just ended up in the brig. Now I’m tapped into this enormous power, and I can feel how things could really get out of hand.”

He can’t help raising an eyebrow at the idea that her temper is yet to get out of hand, and she slaps his arm.

“Yeah yeah yeah, very funny, but this is a whole different level. And I know where I need to go. Well kind of anyway, I’m sensing the coordinates.”

She looks down.

“But I can see how excited you are to be here, and all these plans you have, they sound amazing. I really want you to be happy Lee. If anyone has deserved it, it’s you.”

The pallor of her face is striking when she’s not smiling, and her eyes look haunted again. She closes them briefly, presses her lips together. He knows her so well, knows she’s struggling with whatever she wants to say next. He has instant flashbacks to other times, when she’s ducked out of their conversations at the critical moment, changed the subject, laughed at him. Hit him even. When she opens her eyes again, she looks straight at him. It feels like an eternity, and he can sense the battle going on inside her. There is a swoop in his stomach when the force that keeps them both afloat falters and drops them a few inches, but when she speaks, her voice is low and even.

“I would like you to come with me. I’m asking you to give all of this up, and come with me instead. That’s what I want. And, really, I understand if…”

He doesn’t answer, he just tries to lean up from his supine position to kiss her again. There is no resistance in the air, and he can’t reach her. He’s flailing, arms and legs moving aimlessly. She laughs, a breathless laugh, and hugs him close.

“I’d better put you down on the ground, huh?”

He can feel solid ground under his feet, but he’s not letting her go. He hugs her close, feels her solid warmth and her cheek against his neck, and breathes in the warm scent of her hair. Relief courses through his veins, relaxes his chest and once more he can breathe deeply. He rests his hands on her hips, feeling the hipbones through the fatigues, unconsciously gently squeezing them to make sure. Make sure she’s real, that she’s there.

“I love you Lee. You know that.” 

Finally, he can find his voice again. His hand finds her cheek, the thumb stroking her cheekbone, the corner of her eye.

“You said that once before”

She looks down, but he keeps gently stroking her cheek.

“And the next day I woke up and you were gone. Married to someone else.”

With the tiniest movement she leans into his hand, then turns her head to press a kiss into the palm.

“That’s what I mean. Doing crazy things that I didn’t understand. I was so happy there with you, I felt as if I was doing what I wanted for the first time in a long time. That I could actually run away from all my troubles.” 

She’s speaking softly into the palm of his hand, and he can feel her breath on his skin.

“And then I woke up that morning and I just had this dread, this sense that I was losing Sam and that he was the most important thing in the world. That I had to find him and never let him out of my sight. Now I can see it - it was his destiny to take us all here, and it was mine to make sure that happened, but I didn’t know that then. I just felt it. And I just acted. I had no idea how to explain it to you, so I didn’t, and I resented him so much for it. Almost as much as I resented myself.”

She turns her head and he can see tears in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry. Sorry about everything. But things would be different now, ok? There may be things I still don’t understand, but I will never let them hurt you again.”

He is unaccustomed to this sort of openness from her, between them. It feels good. 

“Kara, I love you. And I don’t really mind the crazy stuff, as long as you don’t shut me out. I can see that something amazing is happening to you, and I want to understand it too.”

“Does that mean that you’ll come with me?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you. Of course I will.”

She smiles, and it is a big happy Kara smile, even with the tears clinging to her lashes. He realises how long it has been since he has seen that smile, and how much he has missed it. She wraps one arm around his neck, her other hand lacing though his hair and gently tugging it.

“Good! I’m ready to be happy and have some babies, and I’ll be damned if I have them in a world with no antibiotics and no modern medicine! What the hell were you thinking?”

What was he thinking? He doesn’t know. A moment ago his whole world collapsed, and now he is being offered everything back and more, more than he had ever dared to wish for. His chest feels so open, so free, and he laughs too.

“If you had said before that you wanted my babies I may have been in a… different frame of mind. I’ll do whatever you want. As usual. There are no vipers around to fly anyway.”

“You don’t need a viper to fly anymore. Not if you stick with me.”

For a moment they just stand there, face to face, his hands on her hips, smiling. She rolls her eyes at him, and he laughs.

“So apart from the flying, what else can you do now?” 

“Ok – are you ready? I’m not quite sure about this, but here we go.”

She closes her eyes, and turns her face up towards the sky. Her nostrils flare, as if she’s catching a scent. Then she raises her right arm, fingers splayed out, and draws a deep breath. Lee looks around. The wind is still blowing. Their feet are still firmly planted on the ground. Nothing looks different, but Kara is concentrating and he knows better than to interrupt. He wonders if he should let go of her to allow her to focus completely, but when his hand leaves her hip she reaches out and snatches hold of it, without opening her eyes. He looks in the direction of her outstretched arm, and he sees something approach through the wispy clouds. He strains his eyes to make it out, and gasps when it’s finally close enough for him to see the glint of red and the familiar shape.

`’Don’t worry, it’s mine. I put a cylon heavy raider in orbit in preparation.” 

“Are you telling me that you’re flying that thing? From here?”

He looks at her profile in awe. Her eyes are open now, and her lips quirk in a satisfied smile. She twists her hand ever so slightly, and the terrifying raider gives a jaunty jiggle before settling down on the grassy plain.

“Yep. It’s pretty cool, isn’t it? Until now I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off. It can jump much further, so we won’t be hunting for too long.”

He’s gathering his racing thought, trying to assess how this new and overwhelming information affects how he feels about her. She can control things with her mind. She can draw a heavy raider in from its orbit with sheer will power. But then, she was already someone who could crash on a barren moon and come roaring back in a cylon raider. Someone who could disappear in an explosion of light and come back two months later without a scratch. The one thing that could keep him afloat when nothing else could. And she smiles the exact same, half shy, half cocky smile now as when she scrambled out of that raider. She’s still holding on to his hand, and she turns towards him and grabs his other one. For a moment she looks at their entwined fingers, and then she looks up at him.

“So?”

He is just looking at her, taking in the details of her eyes, her smile, her face. She is Kara. The rest really isn’t worth a damn.

“So what?”

“What do you think of my new ride? Do you want to come for a spin?”

“Where are we going? If I may ask?”

“I’ve got this new piece of music in my head. Oh, don’t look like that, you know it works!”

He gives her a piercing look, then wraps an arm around her waist to pull her closer. 

“Music? Hell’s teeth.”

He squints at the cylon raider, so out of place on the vibrant plain.

“But I trust you. I don’t understand it, but I trust you. I’ll even go into the unknown, in a cylon ship, led by whatever is floating around in that deranged mind of yours.”

She laughs as he ruffles and then smooths her hair with his free hand, and again she leans into his palm, rubbing her head against it like a big cat.

“But you know, if we end up on another stinking algae planet I reserve the right to be so annoyed.”

“Don’t worry Lee, I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

And then, she kisses him.

Theme from Starwars plays  
https://open.spotify.com/track/7oIvDGjOjJFFXuVaCyQwme


End file.
